LeBron and the Art of Rebounding

Go ahead and read it.  http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/news/story?id=5780944.  Yup, that's right, the mainstream media has bothered to tell us what a famous player in one sport in one city thinks of another team in another sport in another city.   Go figure.  Next thing you know, he'll be telling us who should win a Gold Glove at shortstop this year.

For the restoration of sanity, let's flaunt our audacity and take a look at LeBron in his own sport.  The Heat are 5-2, LeBron and DWade are both averaging over 20 points per game, while wreaking havoc on the rest of the league with their defense on opposing wing players.  But LeBron's numbers in the rebounding department are down this year compared to his totals in Cleveland.  In the last three seasons, James has averaged 7.0, 7.2, and 6.7 rebounds per game.  This year, his average is 4.8.  While any data at this point in the season is from a small sample, it still appears to be statistically significant.

To make matters worse, James is missing out on the offensive glass, too.  Reggie Evans has 33 offensive rebounds this season.  Russell Westbrook has 14. Matt Barnes and Grant Hill have 20 apiece. LeBron has the same amount as you and me:  zero.

Below is a shot of LeBron on defense versus the 76ers.  To be fair, it was the second night of a back-to-back, immediately following the media-scrum of the opening game against the Celtics.   But James' technique on the defensive glass is decidedly less than precise.  As the shot goes up, LeBron completely ignores his own man, Evan Turner, on the far side of the court.  He has visual contact on Turner as the shot goes up.

 But without any sort of an attempt by James at boxing out, Turner heads to the hoop around James.

Turner ends up in the middle of the lane.  Here he is right at the hoop (at the peak of the charge circle) and the end result is an offensive rebound and two points for his efforts.